It is common to need to carry loads in the bed area of a pickup truck. A common problem is that the bed of the truck is not long enough to accommodate a load. Long loads can include many materials commonly hauled by pickup such as lumber and pipe for example. One common solution is to haul a load with the tail gate of the truck open such that the load can extend beyond the bed area of the truck. This creates a problem where an item can fly off the truck bed. This can occur at a gust of wind or in traveling over a bumpy area such as a rail road track. This exposes the driver of the truck to problems not only concerning the actual loss of the load but also to liability associated with an accident that the lost load might cause.
Contractors commonly use pickup trucks to carry materials and tools to and from a job site. Another problem with loading material into the bed of a pickup is that if a person has a stack of lumber of various dimensions as well as hardware and tools, once everything is loaded into the truck bed it becomes necessary to unload everything in order to use anything.
It can be seen then that there is a need for an improvement in devices available to handle cargo in the bed of a truck.